Author Topic: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat  (Read 6265 times)

halhorner

  • Cycling Weakly
Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #25 on: 08 March, 2019, 11:14:53 pm »
So I've just discovered a sidewall tear whilst getting my bike ready for this tomorrow. Have put a tyre boot in, hoping that will get me to the nearest open bike shop on/near route. Guess this will be the one in Pewsey, anyone know of any others?

CrazyEnglishTriathlete

  • Miles eaten don't satisfy hunger
  • Chartered accountant in 5 different decades
    • CET Ride Reports and Blogs
Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #26 on: 09 March, 2019, 04:10:27 pm »
Very windy out there.  Rode a section of the route between Burbage and Market Lavington today, ahead of the field, and was glad of the extra few kilos of lard around my middle to keep my stable on the bike.  Hope everyone gets back safely.
Eddington Numbers 130 (imperial), 182 (metric) 571 (furlongs)  114 (nautical miles)

Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #27 on: 09 March, 2019, 10:56:28 pm »
I got to the start late (8:25 by the time I set off) which meant I got to hungerford just as the last 200s we’re getting ready to leave & ~5 mins before the first of the 100s showed up...

After that the wind got ‘challenging’   ::-) I didn’t manage to ride with anybody at all, but I did chat to some very nice people at the controls & really had a nice day in the end.

Looking back, turns out thats my first ride over 35km this year - no wonder I feel beaten up!  Will be back in future years it’s a nice day out on the bike  :thumbsup:


Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #28 on: 10 March, 2019, 09:34:44 am »
The wind as indeed challenging, but we're grateful that it wasn't blowing in the opposite direction! Getting blown out to Bratton but returning in all that would have been even more of a challenge I think.

Haven't done this for a while, and it's the first time the recumbent as been anywhere near an Audax since PBP, so it was good to see the beast holding up ok. Didn't have time to get to the Brewery though. This is a good ride. Thanks to all.

Garry Broad

Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #29 on: 10 March, 2019, 10:10:05 am »
I had a tubeless tyre that wouldn’t seal a puncture all the way from Hungerford to Pewsey, eventually gave up and stuck an inner tube in it.  Being in first gear battling into the wind on level ground it not an experience I’d like to repeat too often.  Still, despite being absolutely shattered it was a good day with some great company along the road.
PS was the brewery meet at West Berks in Yattendon?  I was thinking it would be a great place to stop when I was passing it.
PS I see from Garry’s previous post it was West Berks Brewery. Fabulous beer if anyone finds themselves in the area again.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #30 on: 10 March, 2019, 10:35:30 am »
The fruits of minimal maintenance on the fixed commuter were harvested with chucking a chain before the first info and pulling the wheel on a steep pinch out of Hungerford before lunch. Plugging into the wind on false flats and on fixed was character building. The power of swear was relied upon a few times, so only walked one bit in the afternoon. Nicely organised and a well-sorted route, though anonymous churches are sometimes a pain.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #31 on: 10 March, 2019, 11:29:51 am »
Well done Titus on his first outing as an organiser.

The wind out to the turn was a pig but luckily had a companion for most of the way. I didn't hang around at Bratton and decided to grab something at the farm shop we'd just passed ... so the contrast, riding with the tail wind was really apparent and lifted my spirits massively.

Shortly after Pewsey I had a front tyre issue that looked like it could be terminal until assorted people helped out including the donor of a brand new tyre.  It's what make audax special.

Great to see such a big field.

Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #32 on: 10 March, 2019, 12:13:09 pm »
Shortly after Pewsey I had a front tyre issue that looked like it could be terminal until assorted people helped out including the donor of a brand new tyre.

!!!! what happened to that tyre?
thought the problem was a slow visitation?
Garry Broad

arabella

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Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #33 on: 11 March, 2019, 09:30:51 am »
A ride of 2 halves - the windy half and the other half.  Views of the white horse of Pewsey, the canal etc., and East Anglian flatlander friendly (tho I did wonder whether the hills at the end would've been better on the way out, otoh as the ride has been running mumble years I imagine there are strong reasons for leaving as is)
I got lucky in that I'd managed to leave behind most of my tools (eek), fortune meant I didn't need them.

Nice to see some familiar faces, Richard, Phil, Gary, Mel (whose other half is looking forward to her quadrennial trip to les bords de la Seine, I think), Dave & Judith, then Matt at the Tutti Pole where in true audax fashion I snaffled some poor runner's surplus toast and assorted leftover jam, butter and tea with milk.  Audaxers seem to look younger than they used to.

Thanks to the person whom I volunteered to wash up my cup at the end.  In the reverse position my un-uttered thought would have been 'fuck off'.

I encountered the new bike spaces on the GWR on the way back.  Another example of things being designed for the average male I think; there was no way I was going to hang my bike on the offered peg, so I gave up after one not very concerted attempt. 
Further train associated fun meant that I came back via Cambridge>Ely to avoid cycling from Paddington to Newberry Park.  Except the train left Ely before our arrival 10 mins late.  So I got put in a taxi instead.
Any fool can admire a mountain.  It takes real discernment to appreciate the fens.

Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #34 on: 11 March, 2019, 10:01:03 am »
Twas a great day out - if a bit tiring.

Headwinds were ridiculous (I don't remember those being ordered ;))  Annoyed I couldnt stop and take a photo at the Crofton Beam Engines as time wasnt on my side.

Finally got back at 9.14pm so just inside the allocated time of 9.30pm (full value good and proper).  Last man standing!

Light failure with 20 miles to go but luckily a very kind trio of Oxford cycling ladies lent me their spare one.

Thanks to all the organisers who stayed on for us stragglers at the end.

halhorner

  • Cycling Weakly
Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #35 on: 11 March, 2019, 01:22:19 pm »
Echo all the thanks to the organisers. Had no idea this was an org debut for Titus, based on how well run it was I'd have assumed he was an old hand.

Quite brisk out to hungerford, then like others I found the next stage very hard work. Had a nice 20 minutes or so repite following the wheel of a chap called Sean who refused to let me take a turn on the front as he was training for a 1000km event in NL where drafting is not allowed — happy days!

Longer than planned at Bratton due to a mix up with my food order but was so knackered that I wasn't complaining.

Then homeward bound with the wind behind us, and a real psychological lift from seeing the landmarks that were struggled slowly past on the way out fly by with scarcely believable frequency.

Tea and cake in the Tutti Pole (is it only me that finds this place a bit creepy in a League of Gentlemen way, or is that part of the appeal?) then a lumpier than expected final stage home.

3 visitations (thanks for the spare tube Matthew) and 1 near miss when a car drove into me on the right hand turn in Boxford - thankfully very slowly so no harm done, but still FFS.

Thanks to everyone for the company at various stages, and to Titus + team for organising.






Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #36 on: 11 March, 2019, 08:06:38 pm »
There was something about the picture at the start of the 100km going on social media. Does anyone know anything about it? Might be nice to see it.

Re: Kennet Valley 100/200 rides on Sat
« Reply #37 on: 11 March, 2019, 08:42:21 pm »
Shortly after Pewsey I had a front tyre issue that looked like it could be terminal until assorted people helped out including the donor of a brand new tyre.

!!!! what happened to that tyre?
thought the problem was a slow visitation?

It was one of those that decides to grow up and become a full visitation when you put a new tube in having forgotten the golden rule ... ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS find the cause of the problem as it's very rarely come out again. On really really close examination I realised that a) I was never going to find the offending microscopic cause b) there may have been more than one and c) frankly, given the state of the tyre I was lucky to have got to the end of my street in the first place.

Brand spanking new Vittoria Zylophone donated by a very kind man (may his karma be repaid soon) and another passing rider lent me his exceptionally powerful thumbs to get the cold tyre on again.

Plus lots of people who slowed down - yourself included- to express sympathy or generally be encouraging made what could have been a frustrating experience almost pleasant and audax-affirming